Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii announced he wouldn’t seek re-election next year, becoming the fifth Democratic caucus member to bow out of 2012 elections in which the party may struggle to keep control of the chamber.

Peregrine Financial Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Russell Wasendorf Sr. said in a signed statement linked to his suicide attempt that he committed fraud for two decades at his Cedar Falls, Iowa-based company, according to a federal complaint.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating life insurance companies’ practice of putting veterans’ death benefits in corporate accounts and keeping most of the investment profits instead of paying the survivors.

U.S. Senator John Ensign , a Nevada Republican who was investigated by the Justice Department following his extramarital affair with a former campaign aide, announced today that he won’t seek re-election next year.